As 2022 was coming to a close, we learned of a historic conservation easement agreement for part of Cougar Island on Payette Lake right across from McCall. Cougar Island was at risk of being commercially developed, but the Payette Land Trust purchased and helped craft a conservation agreement that will limit commercial encroachment on that high profile island.

Private land conservation is something that not a lot of people have known about historically. but the Payette Land Trust is changing that.

Craig Utter, the executive director of the Trust, sat down with our Morning Edition Host George Prentice to talk about Cougar Island.